What was Nikon guilty of, or the Role of modern narratives of Raskol in the maintaining the Old Believers’ identity

Abstract

Based on oral narratives of the Raskol (schism) recorded among the Old Belie vers of the North-Western Black Sea Region in 2008–2017, the article analyses inner versions of the topical historical past and the way they infl uence the delineation of group boundaries «from within» the communities. Narratives about Patriarch Nikon are viewed as mythological historical narratives. They are characterized by the non-linearity of time, inclusion of signifi cant motives (distortion / betrayal of faith, persecution of the Old Believers) and indications of ethno-confessional features Old Believers themselves find signifi cant.